Are our books displayed the wrong way round? Cambridge librarian reveals the fashion used to be for spines to face the wall

Placing books on shelves with the spines facing outwards is a relatively recent phenomenon
Placing books on shelves with the spines facing outwards is a relatively recent phenomenon Credit: Alamy

There are plenty of ways to display books on your shelves: by subject, in alphabetical order or even grouped by colour.

But if you want to do things the traditional way, try turning your books back to front.

Placing books on shelves with the spines facing outwards is a relatively recent phenomenon, according to Mark Purcell, former libraries curator for the National Trust and now overseeing the research collections at Cambridge University Library.

Until fashions changed in the 18th century, book titles and authors were not printed on the spine but written in ink on the edge of pages. The turnaround happened when the wealthy decided that having titles embossed in gold leaf would add a certain cachet.

Prince of Wales talks to a school boy during a visit to the University of Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum to mark its bicentenary and to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Cambridge University Library
Prince of Wales talks to a school boy during a visit to the University of Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum to mark its bicentenary and to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Cambridge University Library Credit: PA

"It's a startling thing, but if you'd gone to almost any library in England, Wales or Scotland until 300 years ago, the books were kept backwards," Purcell said.

"Having the spine face outwards is something we now regard as normal, but in those days the cultural supposition was that books had the title printed on the edge of the pages in ink."

The first known English book with a title gilded on the spine was printed in 1604, he said, and that was considered "cutting edge".

There then followed what historians refer to as "The Great Turnaround", where the method of display was reversed.

Purcell said: "It began in the 17th century and continued until the late 18th century, by which time only the most old-fashioned were catching up.

"Cambridge's library changed early on, Oxford's a bit later. For wealthy households with private libraries, it was a gradual case of, 'Why are we still doing it like this? The neighbours have theirs the other way.'"

Speaking at the Hay Festival, Purcell said that for many decades visitors to National Trust houses had been told that books were "bought by the yard" to make libraries appear impressive. But recent historical research has proved that to be false.

"By the early 1700s, a library was absolutely standard kit of any great house - not as a showpiece, not as a place for parties or receiving visitors, but as a room where the owners kept their stuff.

"The evidence is absolutely clear that books in country houses were far more important and far more used than you have tended to be told on 40-year-old guided tours or in 50-year-old guidebooks," he said.

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